JAL: Apparently From Alaska to Utah to Hawaii is called Route "Joseph" and the way back is call "Smith"

Dear Family,I  Went up the ropeway for Mt. Moiwa Today and met a guy from Hawaii! I asked him in Japanese to take our picture and he was like "Hey, I don speak japanese man." haha. It was really weird hearing a hawaiin accent :P haha. His nephew is a bishop in Hawaii. He's not a member though.

  I've actually been thinking it would be fun to go to BYU Hawaii! I don't know if I actually want to but I can see myself going!  I would still have to do one semester is Provo I think though. I just need to choose a path and study and work hard. Don't worry about me. Nantoka naru desho (Things will work out!)

Thanks for your story mom! I really have felt the power of prayer lately too.

But the think I've felt the most lately is the power of the Priesthood. God truly speaks and works through us to bless his children and it's amazing to me that we are counted worthy to hold his priesthood.

I don't have a ton of time because I have a Baptismal interview to do soon! It's the friend of someone who recently got baptized and he wants to get baptized too :) It's great!

I'll tell you the coolest thing I heard this week.

So we found an less active memeber that works at the airport and apparently the airports uses a lot of church words for routs. Apparently From Alaska to Utah to Hawaii is called Route "Joseph" and the way back is call "Smith" :P Also, There is one called Monson and Mormon as well. The lights on the flight line are called the 12 apostles and there are a ton of other. Landing is called Laman  and take off is called Lemuel! It was so cool hearing all of this! This less active member was really active in sharing the gospel as well haha. What a cool guy.

Ok, well I gotta go! I'll talk to you again next week! I may be transfered by then! 

Love you! Bye Bye!!!!

Elder Sotto!

"Wow, God sent a whole typhoon so that we could meet that one person!"

'm glad I get to write you every week too! It's nice the technology we have here.

Oh no! Are you ok mom? Take care of yourself!

So this week was great!

I was on splits with a brand new missionary and we had a typhoon and it was raining like crazy! But we went out searching for a referral that was a little bit up Moiwa Mountain. When we got there no one was home and so we just stood there on the porch for a second looking at the rain and a guy came buy and asked us what we were doing. We told him and he said the person in the house we were at had moved. But he invited us in to warm up and told us that the real reason he invited us in was because he thought it would be a good chance to hear about God...Wow! He gave us yogurt and we talked about Joseph Smith and the Restoration and made a return appointment. Afterwards my temporary companion said "Wow, God sent a whole typhoon so that we could meet that one person!" =D apparently he had been visited by missionaries and turned them down before but because we looked cold he let us in :) great day.

We've also been meeting frequently with our grandmother investigator that is getting baptized in 2 weeks and she's progressing nicely with a new gained hope for the future.

The time is flying by so fast here! It's weird to think that me and my doki (people who came to japan at the same time) are the leaders of the mission now. It's really fun though. We had an inter-zone conference last week and taught a workshop on basic finding for everyone. There are so many young missionaries!  But it was really fun :) I'm learning so much!

We have a lot of handwarmers in Hokkaido. They call the Kairo. We have a ton! And we used them all last winter :) I might go buy a small pair of liner gloves soon though. It's gotten pretty cold.

Someone reminded me that scholarships may start soon and I'm not sure when, but I'm allowed to do that kind of stuff on P-day if there is anything. If you could give that a look for me I would be grateful! 

You're already preparing for camp next year? Wow. That's pretty fast! Is there a spot for me? :P 

Alright, well I'll talk to you again next week! 

Love you! Bye Bye!

Elder Sotto (Tall and less and less skinny everyday :P I'm doing lots of push ups!)

Oh dad :P  I had to read the article this time haha. There is one burger king in an area close to our area and I told the elders in that area about it so they're going to go :P(

Burger King Japan’s newest hamburger is a black ninja with a bacon tongue

Ok. so this week's miracle was yesterday. It was amazing!

Our investigator came to General Conference with like 4 members and they were always with her so we didn't see her much, but she went to conference. That night we felt I thought "Lets call Iwasaki san and ask her what she thought about conference." apparently right at that time she had been thinking that she wanted to tell someone about the feelings she felt at conference so when we called she opened her heart up to us. She felt the Spirit very strongly and said the path to truly living was opened up to her eyes. She hasn't had hope for the future for about 20 years but she felt so much hope at Conference. She's getting baptized next month :)

 

We also had 3 other less active members come to conference and it was wonderuful!

Conference was great!

I have a lot of new goals for things I want to work on as well.

But a feeling I felt at conference was that I'm very glad this work doesn't end after my mission is over :) I'm very excited for the future :)

 

Alright, well I'll talk to you next week!

Love you Bye!!!

 

Elder Mitchell Perry Sotto

He asks me to teach him songs for different weather times. So I taught him "Rain Drops keep falling on my head" :)

Winter has...started kana? (maybe)? It's been pretty cold for the past month or so and it keeps getting colder. We've gone to long sleeve shirts and suits and I bought thin gloves at the store today.

It rains quite a bit here but lately it's just getting colder.

My companion is a Japanese Elder from Nagoya! We've been together for two transfers as ZLs. He is such a good companion! I love him :) He asks me to teach him songs for different weather times. So I taught him "Rain Drops keep falling on my head" :)

He really helps me to widen my vision and see things from different perspectives. He helps me to remember to be humble :) I run into things 100% without thinking very hard sometimes and he is a very deep thinker. We balance each other out well :)

This weeks personal study has been focused on more deeply understanding the Fall of Adam and Eve and the Atonement of Jesus Christ. It's been awesome! I spent the past 3 days studying 2 Nephi 2:11-13 and I really understand it for the first time! It is soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo cool!!!! It's pretty deep too. I wrote like 10 pages of my thoughts on those 3 verses =P And I will definitely use my time a little more wisely for my study next week :P

Favorite meal was definitely...Katsudon :) I loooooooove katsudon. It's rice with onions and tonkatsu meat and egg on top. It's unbelievable. I don't know what I'm gonna do when I get back to America. If they don't have katsudon somewhere I might die! :P

Favorite meeting...so we have this fun little old lady investigator that is really funny. We compliment her and she shuts us down so fast haha. "that's a really nice vase you have" "There's nothing nice about this vase! what are you two boys talking about..." :P haha. She is definitely the funnest person to meet with. She is praying and reading the Book of Mormon and progressing really well.

We listen to conference this coming weekend and we have a less active member and an investigator coming! I'll keep my ears opened for president Uctdorf's talk!

I love being a Zone Leader here and I love being a missionary! It's so fun being out here and it's quite the learning experience.

Thank you for asking me questions! It helps me remember the week!

Thanks for all the news as well :) I'm in the Honbu right now emailing and we don't have a ton of time here so I honestly am not really reading the articles dear father. I love reading your stories and experiences and things you learn though :)

Mata raishu! (Talk to you next week!)

I love you!

Elder Sotto

I can't remember what I did all week, but I did good things I promise!

Hello Family!

I'm sorry to say father, but I haven't read the news you've sent for the last 2 weeks. I've been really busy. It takes a while to read too and I don't have much time at the Honbu so I don't read them a ton. Sorry! 

Thank you for your thoughts though! That's my favorite :) I love your thoughts about your mission and stuff.

This week has been fun!

I have an awkward moment for you! 

The awkward moment when you get asked to announced what you learned from your group studies in the Sunday School class and you give a beautiful explanation about what you need to do to  be a good father...but nobody understands...because you rambled on for 1 minute in english and they only understand Japanese :P 

Then there's...what...what else happened this week...

We had an investigator give us a referral!...and...and

We got to help our dendo shunin move as well!...and....and...and

My memory is mou dame da (It's all down the drain)! I can't remember what I did all week, but I did good things I promise! :P

Today was really good too. I'm learning a ton from my companion and I'm loving life :)

And that's about it! I'll try my best to remember more for next week! 

I love you! Good Bye!